Not involved in Samjahuta blast: Aseemanand

Source :

Last Updated: Mon, Jul 18, 2011 14:31 hrs

Panchkula (Haryana), July 18 (IBNS) Swami Aseemanand who was allegedly involved in the 2007 Samjhauta Express blast, on Monday told a local court that he was made to take the 'blame' on himself under the pressure of National Investigation Agency (NIA).

"I was forced by the NIA to confess that I was involved in the blast. I am not involved in the case. The proof against me is also fabricated by the NIA," Aseemanand told reporters outside the special court after the hearing.

Meanwhile, the NIA, submitting 'deficient documents' in the case, told the court that it will file a supplementary chargesheet against some other accused soon.

The Additional District and Sessions Judge Kanchan Mahi will hear the case next on August 17.

Aseemanand, according to a media expose earlier, had said it's not Muslims, but Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) 'pracharaks' (activists), who planned and executed the bomb blasts at Malegaon in 2006 and 2008, on the Samjhauta Express in 2007, in Ajmer Sharif in 2007 and Mecca Masjid in 2007.

The confessions, purportedly to a magistrate at a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court, were published by the Tehelka magazine.

Later on Mar 30, Aseemanand retracted his statement through a letter to Ajmer court and said he was made to confess forcefully by the federal investigating agency CBI.

The Malegaon bombings took place on 8 September 2006 in Malegaon, a town in the Nashik district of Maharashtra.The explosions, which killed at least 37 people and injured over 125 more, took place in a Muslim cemetery, adjacent to a mosque.

The Samjhauta Express bombings took place around midnight on 18 February 2007 on the twice-weekly train service connecting Delhi, India, and Lahore, Pakistan. Of the 68 fatalities, most were Pakistani civilians.

The blast in the shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer in October 2007 had claimed three lives and injured several others.